Five for Friday

Whew!  It's been a busy few weeks and I've neglected this little blog 'o' mine.  So sorry, friends!  I'm so glad for Doodle Bugs Teaching Five for Friday to catch you all up on what's been going on.  So here goes...five random happenings from the last few weeks.

We spent 10 glorious days in Lake Tahoe at the end of July/beginning of August.  It's always a great time.  Both girls are much more comfortable in the water now and love the beach.  While we were there, the mister and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary.

The day after we got home, I headed back to my classroom for the first time all summer.  As many of you know, my school site has been under construction for the past year.  Although I didn't have to unpack over a hundred boxes this year, I was greeted with this mess.

The sawdust was EVERYWHERE!  It took me days to clean it up.  I am really looking forward to this being over.  

This is a big year for us.  Our youngest daughter started Kindergarten and now I have both girls at school with me!  Everyone had a fantastic first day of school.  The mister came to see us off on our first day.

We've spent the first week of school working on procedures, agreements, and exploration.  Before asking them to do any "work," I always let the students explore our materials.  

Do you let your students play in Kindergarten?  We do.  It's so important for language and social development.  My favorite quote of the week, "Mrs. S, do you want hot sauce on your hamburger?  

Yes, friend.  Every time.

#letthembelittle

How was your week?

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Tell All Tuesday: A Wish, A Goal, A Dream

Hey, friends!  It's time for Tell All Tuesday again with Jayme and Diana.  It's hard to believe this will be the last one of the summer!  I have really enjoyed linking up, learning more about some amazing bloggers and all of you, and making some great new friends.

With Back to School on the horizon, this week's topic is a great one.  

The start of this year is an extra special one for me.  My baby girl is going to Kindergarten.  (cue the tears)  This girl.  She's just the best and I'm so proud to be her mama.

It's going to be so amazing to have both of my girls at school with me this year. 

Here is my Goal, my Wish, and my Dream for the school year:

A GOAL:  I consider myself a pretty organized person.  It drives me bananas when I know I have something and I can't find it.  But with our school construction, things have gotten a bit out of whack and I haven't had the time to get it together.  I'm hoping that I can get things RE-organized this year and really know what I have and where to find it.  

A WISH: As a Kindergarten teacher, there is a lot of pressure on us to start our students off right in elementary school.  I have this wish every year for my students.  I want them to LOVE school.  If we get to the end of the year, and my students love it, then I've done my job.

A DREAM:  As teachers, we work hard to differentiate the needs of our students so they all succeed.  So why then do we (they) expect our kiddos to take tests that are standardized.  This just makes absolutely no sense.  I want to see an end to all standardized testing.  A girl can dream...

What is your goal, wish, and dream for the new school year?

Leave a comment below or link up with
  Teach, Talk, Inspire & My Day in K.

Here's how to join in on the fun:

1. Grab the picture and banner above and use it to link back to this post on your blog.

2. Write a post about the topic of the week.  

This week is: A Wish, A Goal, and A Dream for the School Year

3. Add your link below.

4. Advertise your post using any social media of your choice.

An InLinkz Link-up

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#2getherwearebetter: All Things Bulletin Boards!

Hi, friends!  I'm super excited to be linking up with Ashley and Angie today for the #2getherwearebetter linky!

I really believe that bulletin boards should showcase student work.  It's important to celebrate all the learning going on and show students that their hard work is valued by putting it on display.  So, here are my top 5 favorite boards from the last couple of school years!  

Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Color Pals!  

We do a unit on colors very early in the school year and this is one of our first bulletin boards.  The adorable craftivity is from Cara Carroll and can be found here.

Earth Day!

I absolutely LOVE this watercolor earth day project from Maria at Kinder Craze.  We paired it with a writing page from this unit from Cara Carroll.  And of course, the adorable clipart from Nikki at  Melonheadz Illustrating.  I just used my document camera to project it on the SmartBoard and then traced it on poster paper.

Baseball!

Have I mentioned that I love baseball?  :)  In May, we do a 3 week long unit all about baseball.  You can read more about it here.  These amazing baseball player portraits and baseballs are from the amazing Katie Mense at Little Warriors.  You can find them here.  Of course, we make our players into Giants.  They have won the World Series 3 times in the last 5 years after all.

Peace Out Kindergarten!

This was our end of the year bulletin board and I absolutely L-O-V-E-D it!  Again, this amazing craft and writing activity also comes from Katie Mense.  (Can you tell I love this girl!?!)  You can find it here.

The Pond!

This, my friends, has got to be my favorite bulletin board of all time.  Each year, our school celebrates Oceans Week.  Each grade level studies a different water habitat.  In Kindergarten, we learn about the pond.  You can read more about this unit here and here.  This board was a collaboration between all 3 Kindergarten classes.  The background was painted by my former coworkers husband who is an incredible artist.  The water was made using a blue shower curtain.  All of the animals that live in and around the pond were made by our students.  

Here is a close up of the water.

We had so much fun putting this together and the students were so proud to call it their own.  

Which board is your favorite?  Let me know by leaving a comment below!

And go check out all of the other amazing bulletin board ideas over at Ashley & Angie's blogs.

  

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August Currently

August!!  Seriously!?!  How is that possible!?!  At least I have Farley's Currently to cheer me up.

Listening:  My boys just tied the game!  Love my Giants!

Loving:  We always take our trip to Lake Tahoe at the end of summer.  I look forward to it every year.  I'm loving our time together as a family.  The girls are swimming like little fishies every day!

Thinking:  The one downside to vacationing late in the summer is that I always have Back to School on the brain.  I can't help it!  There's so much to do but I'm trying not to let it take over.

Wanting:  I'm on vacation.  'Nuff said.

Needing:  Ugh, construction.  I haven't been able to do anything in my classroom the last two summers due to construction on site.  I'm crossing my fingers that they are done and gone when I can get back in on the 10th.  I don't want a repeat of last year (I had to 'set up' while they continued to work, paint, build, etc in my room).

B2S RAK:  We have a new team member this year and I'd love to do something special for my girls.  I'm excited to work with the two of them this year.  Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Head over to Farley's blog to see what others are up to this month! 

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